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Category: News

  • ‘Falcon and Winter Soldier’ Tops Netflix and Amazon Shows in April’s Viewership

    ‘Falcon and Winter Soldier’ Tops Netflix and Amazon Shows in April’s Viewership

    The biggest drawback of streaming services lies in their stubbornness to publicize any viewership data. Anything running on television was made available through Nielsen. So, we were once able to get a grasp of how our favorite shows were performing. Disney+, Netflix, Amazon, and others aren’t forced to make this information available for advertisers, which makes it difficult to assess a show’s success and potential future. Luckily, there are various analytics companies that try to get a better look at how they are doing. Of course, Marvel Studios’ new venture into long-form storytelling made the world wonder how they would perform and it looks like Disney has nothing to worry about. According to Variety, the TV analytics provider TVision announced that Falcon and the Winter Soldier was March’s most-watched series.

    They analyze the viewership numbers between the three major streaming networks, Disney+, Netflix, and Amazon. According to their analysis, the latest Marvel Studios show was viewed 40.4 times more frequently than regular TV shows. The series beat out the other competitors, such as This Is a Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist and The Serpent in April. It even beat WandaVision in March after only premiering on March 19th with 43.4x in comparison to the 35.1x factor of its predecessor. This data is based on their panel where they track 25,000 titles among 5,000 households from connected televisions. It’s not too dissimilar how classic TV series are tracked.

    This development also highlights the staying power of weekly releases, as even fan-favorite Netflix series Bridgerton barely made it into their list with 11.7x. Falcon and the Winter Soldier managed to have an impressive staying power from its premiere into the following month. It is believed that its direct ties to Avengers: Endgame‘s ending also boosted the show’s appeal alongside its relevant social messaging. It’ll be interesting to see how Loki does, especially with the recent change to Wednesday releases.

    Source: Variety

  • WB Confirms its Search for A New Superman

    WB Confirms its Search for A New Superman

    The future of Kal-El in the DC Universe has been up in the air for some time now. The last time we officially saw him was at the tail end of Shazam, in which a body double donned the cape for the brief cameo appearance. Fans have been clamoring for another film in the Superman franchise, With Henry Cavill back in the role and continuing where they left off in  Man of Steel. It seems now that the studio has another idea, and wishes to move in a different direction with the character.

    A while back it was reported that author Ta-Nehisi Coates was set to write the script for the next Superman film, with J.J. Abrams producing on the project. With this news came word that the studio was interested in the idea of having a Black actor pick up the cape and crest as the next Man of Steel. A recent report from The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed this news and adds that the studio is looking for someone to star and direct. Details from sources close to the project say that Coates is developing a story that would see Kal-El coming from Krypton while also possibly being a 20th century period piece. Coates isn’t expected to turn in his script until December, so it could be a while before we hear any news on who will star or direct the project.

    The film could be looking to tell the story of Calvin Ellis, who also happens to go by Kal-El, sent to earth as the world of Krypton imploded in on itself. This version of Superman is also the president of the United States on his earth, having been based on former president Barack Obama.

    The next Superman film is still in very early development, and will reportedly follow the same route as The Batman as it’s reportedly not set within the main continuity of the overall franchise.

    SOURCE: THR 

  • ‘JOKER’ Sequel Still in Development at Warner Bros.

    ‘JOKER’ Sequel Still in Development at Warner Bros.

    It looks like we may not have heard the last of Joaquin Phoenix‘s now-iconic laugh. A recent article from The Hollywood Reporter slyly confirmed that Warner Bros is still planning on developing a sequel to 2019’s Joker as part of it’s upcoming DC line-up. The film, which starred Phoenix as the psychotic clown everyone loves to hate, was originally billed as an experimental, one-off origin story. The project was meant to launch “DC Black”, a new line of darker, adult-oriented comic book movies based on characters from the DC Universe. However, a strong fan reaction to the film and a handful of Academy Award nominations led to director Todd Phillips hinting at a sequel, with Phoenix saying that he would be on board should the right story come his way. THR reported on a sequel entering development in November of 2019, but Phillips later clarified he’d merely had hypothetical conversations with Warner Bros, and no film was actually in production. Until today, no further news had dropped on the subject.

    It’s unclear where a sequel to Joker would go, but the ending of the first film did leave some open threads for a future installment to play with. The last time we see Arthur Fleck, he’s escaping Arkham Asylum and leaving a bloody trail behind him. It’s possible that a second movie could capitalize on this by having Fleck fully embrace the Joker name. Phillips has also previously expressed interest in bringing Batman to the film’s version of Gotham City. In the chaos of Joker‘s third act, we see Bruce Wayne’s timeless origin story play out, so a time-jump featuring an older version of the character duking it out with Fleck may not be completely off the table. That is, assuming the world doesn’t already have enough Batmen.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘LOKI’ Changes Release Date, Will Stream on Wednesdays

    ‘LOKI’ Changes Release Date, Will Stream on Wednesdays

    Wednesdays are the new Fridays. That was the message from actor Tom Hiddleston in a new video released by Marvel, which confirms Loki‘s premiere date has been moved up to June 9th. The two-day adjustment will coincide with a new plan by Marvel Studios to drop new episodes of the six-part series on Wednesdays, instead of the traditional Friday schedule Disney+ has used for all of it’s original series. No true reason was given for the change-up, other than Loki’s characteristic insistence on being different from everyone else. It’s possible the move was made to separate the show from all of Disney’s other projects. Marvel most likely has a strong enough fanbase for the company to be confident in a mid-week release schedule not effecting viewership in a significant way.

    Loki is set to follow the time-warping adventures of the Loki audiences met in Avengers: Endgame. The show will pick up after the anti-hero escapes with the Tesseract, and is captured by the Time Variance Authority. From there, Loki will be forced to fix the timeline he broke with Owen Wilson‘s Mobius M. Mobius by his side. Loki‘s story is expected to connect with the other multiversal projects being developed by Marvel Studios at the moment, though it’s still unknown how the plot will lead to this. The project was created by Rick and Morty‘s Michael Waldron, with episodes helmed by director Kate Herron. The ensemble cast also includes Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who may or may not be playing a major role in the MCU.

  • Production on Marvel Studios ‘BLADE’ Delayed Until Summer 2022

    Production on Marvel Studios ‘BLADE’ Delayed Until Summer 2022

    According to a trade report, production on Marvel Studios Mahershala Ali-led Blade reboot has been delayed, with principal photography now expected to begin in July of 2022. Production was originally expected to begin this Fall, but the studio has opted to push it back to allow for more time for Stacy Osei-Kuffour to complete the script.

    Mahershala Ali: What to Know About Oscar Moonlight Actor | Time

    First announced at SDCC ’19, the Blade reboot has been the center of an awful lot of fan buzz, buzz which intensified when it was left off of this week’s Marvel Studios Phase 4 trailer. Earlier this year, word surfaced that the studio was searching for a teen for a lead role, leading to speculation that the film might center on the relationship between Blade and his daughter, Fallon Grey, a character who was originally intended to debut in the comics before being pulled. At the moment, the search for a director for the film is ongoing.

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    Source: THR

  • James Gunn Planning to Part Ways with Marvel Studios Guardians of the Galaxy After Completing the Threequel

    James Gunn Planning to Part Ways with Marvel Studios Guardians of the Galaxy After Completing the Threequel

    When Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters on May 5, 2023, it will have been exactly 6 years since the group of misfits last James Gunn-led outing and a lot has changed between then and now. Gunn was fired by Disney and then rehired but not before signing up to direct DC’s The Suicide Squad, a project which led to him developing and directing a Peacemaker series for HBO Max. Production on the third Guardians film is expected to kick off this Fall and according to Gunn, this is looking like his last rodeo with these characters.

    https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1389402413967282181?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1389402413967282181%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fscreenrant.com%2Fguardians-galaxy-3-movie-james-gunn-final-reaction%2F

    Not long ago rumors made the rounds that Gunn would become the shepherd of Marvel Studios Cosmic corner of the universe and Gunn made some noise about potentially developing projects for the Sylvester Stallone-led Ravagers but over the last several years, that noise has died down and Gunn has seemed to lean more into taking a break before deciding what’s next following Guardians 3. His latest statement certainly seems consistent with that and makes sense. Much has changed at Disney and Marvel Studios in the past 3 years much less the last 6. Disney Plus has come into the picture and the studio has started to chart what would seem to be a bit of a different course than the one that led to a Ravagers film. For now, it seems sufficient to let Gunn finish his story with this group of Guardians and let him take some time to determine what’s next, whether here, at DC or something entirely different.

     

  • ‘The Flash’: Tom Cavanagh and Carlos Valdes Leaving the CW Show After Season 7

    ‘The Flash’: Tom Cavanagh and Carlos Valdes Leaving the CW Show After Season 7

    It looks like the seventh season of The Flash will end with quite a bit of change, as Deadline has just reported Tom Cavanagh and Carlos Valdes are leaving the show. The show will return for an eight-season but the cast will be cut down. Cavanagh played the show’s main antagonist Eobard Thawne, or better known as the Reverse-Flash. He did end his tenure as a series regular at the end of the sixth season but continued to make guest appearances. It seems that he has hinted at his exit in an Instagram post in February. Valdes played the character of Cisco Ramon, who was a series regular up until this point. Executive producer and showrunner Eric Wallace had the following to say on their exit:

    Tom and Carlos have been an integral part of our show for seven seasons, and will be greatly missed. Both are incredible talents who created beloved characters that fans and audiences around the world have come to love. Which is why we are happily keeping the door open for return appearances.

    They were part of the original six cast members alongside Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, and Danielle Panabaker. It seems that they are still actively negotiating their deal with Gustin signed up for the next season. Of course, losing these two is a major shift for the series and it’ll be interesting to see how the finale addresses their absence moving forward. There is always a chance that they could make an appearance later down the line, but it also depends on how many more seasons we can expect from the Scarlet Speedster’s run on CW.

    Source: Deadline

     

  • Andrew Garfield Continues a Marvel Tradition by Denying Involvement with ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’

    Andrew Garfield Continues a Marvel Tradition by Denying Involvement with ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’

    Spider-Man: No Way Home seems like the worst kept secret in the industry. It all came to a boil when Spider-Man 2 actor Alfred Molina just outright confirmed his involvement with the project. He confirmed that he was returning as Doctor Octopus and that he may even continue from Sam Raimi‘s original film. It has quiet down since production wrapped on the project, but there are still countless unanswered rumors going around. Months ago, the rumor hit the web that Andrew Garfield might be returning alongside other Spider-Man franchise veteran. There was also the posts on Instagram by Garfield‘s stunt double William Spencer alongside Greg Townley. Why was that significant? Townley is Tom Holland‘s stunt double. Well, the Amazing Spider-Man actor was interview by Josh Horowitz on the rumors going around in which he denied the rumors.

    It’s a bit of a strange interview, as Garfield seems to harp on the topic for quite some bit and is dodging the question. He does deny his involvement but is vague enough to still keep the door open in a way. Of course, it isn’t new for actors to deny their involvement with projects. It’s almost become a tradition that MCU actors deny their involvement with these projects. We even prepared an overview of various denials in the past. Tatiana Maslany was a recent addition to that list after getting confirmed by Mark Ruffalo. In the past, Jeremy Renner, Evangeline Lilly, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Paul Rudd have also famously denied their involvement. Of course, we won’t know for sure that he is involved until we get an official confirmation, but there are enough hints to put together that he is involved in some capacity. We’ll see how the story unfolds. It’ll be interesting to see if Tobey Maguire will join the tradition.

    Source: Twitter

  • Kevin Feige Opens Up About Doctor Strange’s Original Role in ‘WandaVision’

    Kevin Feige Opens Up About Doctor Strange’s Original Role in ‘WandaVision’

    It looks like WandaVision still had a couple of secrets that haven’t seen the light of day yet. The latest issue of Rolling Stone had an in-depth analysis of the Disney+ limited series. In it, Kevin Feige revealed that Doctor Strange was originally meant to appear in WandaVision but was ultimately written out. This change caused rewrites for both the limited series and the upcoming sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

    He even revealed that he would’ve had a bigger role in the story. Interestingly enough, the “commercials” that appeared during the various sitcom episodes were originally intended to pose as messages to Wanda Maximoff from the Sorceror Supreme. These messages were Stephen Strange’s attempts at piercing through her sitcom pocket reality in WestView. They even mentioned that Marvel Studios had finalized a deal with Benedict Cumberbatch to appear in the final episode of the show before being ultimately written out. Feige went on to explain why the Sorceror Supreme was ultimately cut out:

    Some people might say, ‘Oh, it would’ve been so cool to see Doctor Strange. But It would have taken away from Wanda. We didn’t want the end of the show to be commoditized to go to the next movie – here’s the white guy, ‘Let me show you how power works.

    This scenario is similar to how Falcon and Winter Soldier briefly considered including Spider-Man in the finale but decided he didn’t fit into the series’ story. While we never had the opportunity to explore this premise in the show, it will be interesting to see if Marvel Studios plans to include this concept regarding Strange trying to intercept Wanda in the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness sequel or part of the rewrites for the sequel will not include Strange being aware of Wanda’s abilities at all. Feige went on to describe the overall process of writing, plotting, and rewrites at Marvel Studios as:

    [A] wonderful combination of very dedicated coordination, and chaos. Chaos magic.

    Still, it doesn’t take away the fact that WandaVision was an excellent opener to Phase 4 of the MCU and fans certainly cannot wait to see what the future has in store for Wanda Maximoff, Doctor Strange, The Vision, and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

    Source: Rolling Stones via Movieweb

  • ‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ Episode Count Revealed

    ‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ Episode Count Revealed

    While Marvel Studios takes a short hiatus until June, we have the next Disney+ Original keeping us busy in the meantime. To celebrate May 4th, Star Wars: The Bad Batch will start off a brand new story exploring the aftermath of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Up until its release, we were uncertain how many episodes we can expect and it seems we finally got our answer. In an interview with Cnet, the series writer Jennifer Corbett and supervising director Brad Rau offered some insight on the upcoming project.

    Rau revealed that the first season will consist of 16 episodes. Interesting enough is that he does call it “season 1,” which may hint at a future addition that may already be in the cards. He certainly shared his enthusiasm to explore these characters further and continue the stories of this spin-off.

    The episode count is quite interesting, as it is longer than the previous two seasons of The Clone Wars. while it isn’t the usual 22 that we commonly see in the animation, it seems they may have prioritized the story and adjusted the episode count accordingly. Unlike its prequel series, this series also focuses on a specific group of characters rather than jumping between different stories. So, they most likely can streamline their approach. It’ll be interesting to see how this show stands out from its predecessors and if some of the set-ups here might even find their way into live-action, as Ashoka Tano did in the last season of The Mandalorian.

    Source: Cnet.com